The Ghost in the Machine and the Holy Spirit

In late 2022 and early 2023, I first heard about ChatGPT and the current incarnation(s?) of artificial intelligence, I heard a lot of experts telling us that machines/programs/AI can't learn the way humans can learn. Then they'd explain the creation process of these technologies and how humans programmed them to learn, and I thought, that process sure sounds the way my students learn.Now I'm hearing a few people talking about the technology and issues of morality and spirituality. Granted, more people are talking about how AI might kill us all--this week, at least, more people are talking about those dangers. I saw one pastor post his notes from a Carey Nieuwhof webinar on AI and the Church and this bit intrigued me: “AI doesn’t have the Holy Spirit. You have the Holy Spirit. AI doesn’t pray.”When I was growing up in the 1970's, almost every Christian faith tradition taught that humans were God's supreme creation, the best of the best. Many of those traditions taught that only humans…